


Photosynthesis

by genarti



Category: Les Misérables - Victor Hugo
Genre: 19th Century Science cameo, Canon Era, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, M/M, Particular Friends define that as you will, Succulents
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-07
Updated: 2016-01-07
Packaged: 2018-05-12 08:44:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 740
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5660137
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/genarti/pseuds/genarti
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It was true that while parts of unfortunates' cadavers were a frequent sight in Joly's rooms, and the jar of leeches had nearly become a strange and wiggly sort of pet in Lègle's mind, blobby green things were a new addition.  It seemed to be some sort of plant.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Photosynthesis

**Author's Note:**

  * For [tritonvert](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tritonvert/gifts).



> This is pure and shameless fluff, written for tritonvert because she deserves fluffy fics about bini and succulents.
> 
> Thanks to Ryfkah for betaing!

"Ah," said Lègle. "My dear...?"

It was not a tone of reproof. Certainly reproof was not warranted, in Lègle's opinion -- neither by the circumstances nor by their relationship. But he did feel that his tone carried a certain eloquence of, say, confusion.

Lègle had many and very well-informed opinions when it came to the question of what a friend with a more or less permanent loan of one half of a friend's bed was entitled to, in matters of reproof or judgment. But it was true that while parts of unfortunates' cadavers were a frequent sight in Joly's rooms, and the jar of leeches had nearly become a strange and wiggly sort of pet in his mind, blobby green things were a new addition.

It seemed to be some sort of plant. At any rate, it was in a pot. There was dirt, which one of the cats who visited frequently through the open window had investigated. And it was green. All hallmarks of a plant. That it was also shaped like a cluster of smooth green toes with distinctly eyeball-like protrusions at the end was surely only a minor detail, easily explained.

"Ah! Lègle!" Joly turned and beamed at him. Lègle, as always, found himself helplessly smiling back. Plantlike himself, he thought; one turns towards such warmth, it's as simple as that. "You're home. Isn't it lovely?"

"It's certainly lovely. The most charming creature of its kind it's been my pleasure to see. I salute you, monsieur or madame plant -- surely mademoiselle, with such daintiness -- I would kiss your fingers, if only I could spot them." Lègle made an elegant leg as he bowed low. Joly was giggling by this point. "Only, er, won't you introduce us, my dear fellow?"

"I would, but I can't yet. Prouvaire found it in a market, I think. Well, certainly he found it and bought it. He told me where, but I didn't quite follow the explanation, because Bahorel was helping him give it." (Lègle nodded sagely.) "Combeferre didn't know the species either, isn't that marvelous? Prouvaire gave it to me on the condition that he could visit it, which of course he's welcome to do no matter what. Have you ever seen a plant with its own glass domes?"

"Glass domes! Much better than eyeballs, and more accurate too--"

" _Eyeballs_ , oh dear--"

"--and if anyone would find such a plant, it's certainly Jehan Prouvaire. I might almost wonder if he dreamed it into being."

"Oh, no, I'm sure he'd've been even prouder in that case. And they really would have been eyeballs."

They paused to reflect on this prospect.

"Beautiful glass domes," said Lègle firmly. "Sublime. Is it, er -- one treats it like any plant, I imagine? Water, sunlight, a general attitude of benign neglect?"

"Very little water, I think. See! Here, touch it. Its flesh is more like a fruit than a leaf. I think it must be some kind of desert plant. I'm told they have thick skins like this. They hold water -- like a camel, but a plant! Er, either that or it's a sea-plant, and it ought to have lots of water. But the soil's dry right now. So I'm going to assume it's a desert plant first. --And sunlight! I wanted to see if I could prop my mirror to reflect the light and brighten it, in case that helped, but it isn't working very well. It may be too small a mirror."

"Perhaps," suggested Lègle, "we should just put it where the magnetic field is most, er, attuned. Then you don't need to worry about burning it either." 

Lègle would freely admit, if asked, that he understood very little about magnetic fields. Joly considered them very important, or at least possibly very important, and they had never done anyone any harm that he could see. That made him feel very kindly disposed to them, invisibly mysterious though they might be. Other invisible and mysterious things were very dear to his heart, after all; like love.

"Yes," said Joly, frowning at the blobby plant. "I did think of that about the mirror. Well, you're probably right. You usually are; it's a dreadful habit, you know, quite insufferable. Come here and say hello properly, and then if you give me a hand with this table I think we can set it in alignment with the magnetic poles quite nicely over in that corner where the morning sun hits."

**Author's Note:**

> Joly's got a [Fenestraria](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fenestraria), also called baby toes or window plant. How did one turn up in 1830s Paris for Prouvaire to get his hands on? I have NO IDEA but I'm sure it's a wacky story.


End file.
